Thunder forward Kevin Durant is having perhaps the best season of his career. / Brad Penner, USA TODAY Sports

by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

It wouldn't make sense, for starters, considering this is basketball and all. More importantly, the Oklahoma City Thunder general manager who has evolved from a wunderkind to a simply wondrous front-office mind is far too smart to take part in premature celebrations.

His Thunder haven't made us all look silly for deeming them dead as title contenders just yet, if only because it's December and even the Boston Celtics of the 1960s weren't good enough to win championships this time of year. But two seasons after falling to the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals and being labeled the scourge of the NBA earth when they traded James Harden to Houston four months later, the Thunder - thanks mostly to the game's best one-two punch, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook - are looking fully capable of having the last laugh here.

Their latest list of accomplishments in this season that was supposed to be another step backwards: they're winners of 10 of their past 11 games after the 123-94 win vs. the New York Knicks on Christmas Day, good for a 23-5 record that puts them on pace for 67-win campaign. They boast the second-ranked defense in the league (97.8 points allowed per 100 possessions) and fourth-ranked offense (106.7 points scored per 100 possessions) efficiency. So no, in case you wondered, they haven't decided to relinquish the Western Conference just yet.

The Thunder's walls were caving in as recently as October, when Westbrook headed back to the operating table for an arthroscopic procedure related to the meniscus tear in his right knee and initial surgery in April. But if 21.3 points, 7.0 assists, 6.0 rebounds and 1.8 steals a game are any indication - and they are - Westbrook is better than ever. He had a triple-double vs. New York with 14 points, 10 assists, 13 rebounds.

Durant is as marvelous as ever too, on the MVP short list while averaging 28.1 points, 8.0 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.6 steals a game. Against the Knicks, he had 29 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

This isn't only about the return of the Thunder but the reinvention that deserves recognition even at this early juncture. They were the case study of the NBA's harsh new collective bargaining agreement, the team that faced its proverbial fork in the road far sooner than expected because of the extreme changes that were made to the rules by which the league is governed.

So they moved Harden sooner rather than later, deciding to swap him for a package that Presti felt would eventually pay off. Make no mistake that it pained Presti to make this call, to succumb to the new structure that made it virtually impossible to re-sign three All-Star-caliber players for the long term and encouraged the sort of parity that we're seeing this season.

The Thunder management was hoping Harden would take a little less, to go the way of the San Antonio Spurs and sacrifice for the greater good. And when it became abundantly clear that he had no such plans to take anything less than the maximum-level contract he received from the Rockets, the rapid move was made to speed up the timetable on the next phase of Thunder basketball.

But someone as astute as Presti doesn't take that leap without believing in the premise that is now playing out more than ever before. In Durant and Westbrook, he had a duo so dominant it could transcend the recent Big Three trend that began with the 2007-08 Celtics and had continued in Miami. Add to that the remarkable string of talent evaluation by way of the draft, and you start to see why the one building block that got away, Harden, wasn't enough bring the whole place down.

The Thunder's top four scorers are players they drafted: Durant No. 2 overall in 2007, Westbrook No. 4 in 2008, Serge Ibaka No. 24 in 2008 and Reggie Jackson No. 24 in 2011. Jackson, who survived his baptism-by-fire experience during last postseason and this preseason and first two games of the regular season, when Westbrook was out, is widely seen as the X factor in the group.

The third-year point guard, who is averaging 12.3 points a game, has helped fill the offensive void not only left by Harden, but also by his 2012-13 replacement, Kevin Martin, the shooting guard who left for Minnesota via free agency in July. It's to the point now where it just doesn't seem fair that the Thunder's picks always seem to pan out like this, especially considering Jackson showed very few signs of this kind of accelerated evolution during his first two seasons.

It doesn't end with Jackson, either. Steven Adams is the prized possession from the Harden trade, a rookie center who was taken 12th overall with the pick that came by way of Houston. He's coming along slowly but has shown signs of being the Thunder's center for the future - and a cheaper one at that - when veteran Kendrick Perkins eventually relinquishes the role. Jeremy Lamb, who was taken 12th overall by the Rockets in 2012, came Oklahoma City's way in the Harden trade as well and, like Adams, may become yet another key part of this revamped core.

"Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are playing lights out basketball, but I think slowly but surely Jeremy Lamb and Reggie Jackson are proving that they can be guys they can depend on," NBA TV analyst and former player Dennis Scott said. "Now obviously these guys have to play like this when the playoffs get here for these guys to get deep into the playoffs and possibility to the Finals (but) I like the development of what they're doing."

Coach Scott Brooks has done a masterful job at putting the pieces together. In each of his five seasons, the Thunder has had a better winning percentage, played in an NBA Finals, two Western Conference finals and a semifinals.

And if they keep developing like this, Presti and the Thunder may be dancing their way to a title before long and doing that touchdown shimmy after all.